Sunday was an exciting day. The fellows took a train to Bruges, Belgium to visit one of the most amazing cities in Europe. Bruges is a midevil city that is termed the “Venice of the North” It is located about an hour from Brussels near the Atlantic Coast. It reminded me a little of Rothenburg, Germany, another city that is fortified with walls and preserved immaculately. The tour guide provided a lot of information – I usually do not enjoy tour guides, but she provided some details that brought a whole new way of thinking about Bruges.
The exhaustion was immense yesterday. I awoke at 3 am Sunday and made phone calls, watched terrible Belgium tv, and finally fell asleep again at 630 am; only to be rudely awaken at 846 am to tour. Nothing like 14 minutes to get ready. 16 oz. to go coffee is a rare find, so I am quickly becoming an addict looking for a joe. We returned from Bruges at 6 pm; I napped until 720, to arrive at 730 pm for the dinner with 16 EU/international guests.
It was foggy at the dinner for the first 20 minutes – like your mouth cannot quite say what your mind is thinking. But after a glass of champagne, things became clearer. The editor the largest newspaper in Belguim spoke about how the national government has not been existent for over 6 months. The Belgium have serious regional differences between the Wallonia province (south and French speaking) and the Flanders province (north and Dutch speaking). The politicians have been unable to form a government for a long period, but the country is running better than ever. The bureaucracy within Belgium is so ingrained and decentralized that autopilot works just fine. Each area has their own libraries, transportation system, taxation structure, and from the guests, it sounds very confusing.
The editor spoke of the close relationship with America, and how every American president has disappointed the EU, so with all the excitement of a possible Clinton/Obama president, their will still be a huge disappointment at the end of the day. Bush is the most unpopular president in the history of unpopular presidents in the EU, but still with as much damage as he has done, America is viewed as a key partner and friend. They view themselves as better than fighting and war (read European history); and America is too aggressive. There is talk that the EU has become too complacent though, and the huge issue in Germany is that they are going to commit 250 troops to Afghanistan (mostly cooks and janitors, they don’t like to shoot guns wink).
America is seen as the superpower and police, but slightly brutish with no diplomatic skills.
Today I am off to the EU parliament, a meeting with a BP official, and dinner at a EU ministers home tonight. More to come.
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